


Just for a little while

by jessikast



Category: The Old Guard (Movie 2020)
Genre: (I feel for the guy), (Only from when he was new), Alcohol, Andy needs a hug, Andy/OFC, Booker bashing, Cuddle Pile, Cuddles, Discussions of Casual Sex, Gen, Immortal Husbands Joe | Yusuf Al-Kaysani/Nicky | Nicolò di Genova, M/M, Making Out, Multi, Past Andy/Joe/Nicky, Past Threesome, Post-Movie, Team as Family
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-16
Updated: 2020-07-16
Packaged: 2021-03-05 02:33:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,789
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25306792
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jessikast/pseuds/jessikast
Summary: Nile watched this easy intimacy for a minute while an idle thought percolated from the back of her mind and slid past alcohol-loosened inhibitions to her mouth. “Did you guys…have you ever…You know. Done it?”Andy was laughing at her, but she thought it was a kind laughter. “Nile, you were a Marine. I’m sure you can do better than ‘done it’. You mean, have we fucked?”Nile thought for a second. “Yes. That.”On a cozy, drunk evening, Nile learns a bit about Andy, Joe and Nicky's history.
Relationships: Joe | Yusuf Al-Kaysani/Nicky | Nicolò di Genova
Comments: 43
Kudos: 856





	Just for a little while

**Author's Note:**

> Un-beta'd.  
> Based on watching the movie four (!) times, the first issue of the comic that's available online, and that nifty "through history" featurette Netflix put out.

Nile was very, _very_ drunk and thanking her lucky stars that immortal biology had no complaints about her liver processing alcohol at a nice, normal rate. She allowed herself to tip, slowly and deliberately, sideways on the sofa until she could hang her head over the arm to see Nicky and Joe where they were sprawled, equally inebriated, on a thick rug in front of the low-burning fireplace, Nicky using Joe’s belly as a pillow and Joe’s fingers idly carding through Nicky’s hair.

Andy – very _slightly_ more on the side of tipsy rather than drunk, in deference to her mortal liver – was slouched in a comfortable armchair, legs stretched out on the rug, one bare foot idly nudging at Joe’s neck and shoulder. He half-heartedly batted at her with her free hand, then captured her foot with an unfocussed smile, stroking his thumb over the sole. Andy’s head tipped back into the chair, her eyes half-closed in relaxation while her toes wriggled happily.

Nile watched this easy intimacy for a minute while an idle thought percolated from the back of her mind and slid past alcohol-loosened inhibitions to her mouth. “Did you guysh…have you ever…” She carefully linked the index finger and thumb on one hand into a circle and stuck out a tongue in concentration as she tried, failed, then succeeded in sticking a finger of her other hand into the circle. “You know. _Done it_?”

Andy was laughing at her, but she thought it was a kind laughter. “Nile, you were a _Marine_. I’m sure you can do better than ‘done it’. You mean, have we fucked?”

Nile thought for a second. “Yes. That.”

Nicky looked at her wide-eyed for a moment, then turned to Joe. “ _Yusuf, love, I don’t think Nile knows we are a couple_ ,” he whispered in Italian, in that overly loud way drunk people do.

Andy snorted. “Idiota. Little Nile wants to know if _we’ve_ fucked. Right?”

Nile nodded, then regretted it when it the world swirled around her for a moment.

“Oh!” said Nicky, a faint blush rising on his cheeks. Joe just grinned at her. “Aaahhhhh,” he said, with a glint in his eye. “ _Very_ good question.”

Nile felt herself flushing, glad it wasn’t too visible on her skin. “I’m shorr…sorry. It’s not my business.” She waved a hand in the air in a way that she hoped portrayed _I’m drunk and overstepping myself and super embarrassed now_.

Andy rolled her eyes. “Don’t get prudish. Live a bit longer, you’ll get over it. And the answer to your question is…yes. A few times. It was a _long_ time before tv was invented, y’know? We got bored.”

Nicky covered his face with both hands, but both he and Joe were laughing. Nile tried to sit upright, and just ended up rolling off the sofa. That was fine, though. The rug was comfortable. Solid. She couldn’t help feeling curious, and stared at them all, trying to figure out how to ask. Obviously Nicky and Joe were _it_ for each other, but…

It was Nicky who took pity on her. “It’s not…not a regular event,” he said, letting his hands fall down, still looking happy and flushed. “About…what, one-twenty, one-forty years after Joe and I got together? We were waiting for Quyhn in an abandoned mansion-“

“Shithole of a place, middle of nowhere,” Andy broke in. “ _Nothing_ to do. And we drank all the wine.”

“-yes, thank you. We were very drunk, and somehow the topic of conversation became crude-“

“It nearly always did,” said Yusuf. “We are not couth people.”

“True, my love, we are not. Anyway, these two decided that I should see what it was like.”

“What _what_ was like?”

“Women!” crowed Yusuf. “Poor Nicolo had joined the crusades straight from the priesthood. And he was a very excellent warrior, and a very excellent priest.”

Nile felt her jaw drop. “So you’d _never…?_ ”

“Of course not! I had taken vows. Then I went to war, and there were only men – stop poking me, Joe, I was not interested in _them_ – or the camp followers, who weren’t really an attractive prospect. And then there was Yusuf. So!”

Yusuf propped himself on one elbow so he could look fondly down at Nicky. “I had been more widely travelled before the fighting, and I…well, I thought I did not want to be the one to deprive my love of anything.”

Nicky reached up to lay a hand on Joe’s cheek, and smiled at him when Joe turned his head to kiss Nicky’s palm. “Silly. You are always all that I need. _Always_.”

Andy’s expression was soft, looking at them, then she smirked at Nile. “It seemed like a good idea at the time, anyway. Good a way to spend the night as any.”

Yusuf shook his head in mock sorrow. “Of course, I should have realised that a woman like Andromache was going to far surpass any other I had memories of. None other would ever be able to measure up. So we didn’t try with anyone else.” He looked at Andy, then put his hand over his mouth to whisper to Nile. “Six-thousand years of experience. _It all counts_.”

Andy kicked at him, but he captured her foot again and she subsided with a grumble. “We’ve done it a few more times. It’s just…fun. If we’re bored or waiting or drunk. And it’s nice. Being with someone for a night and not bothering to forget their name.”

Nicky smiled at her in his sweet way. “Aww, Andy.” He stretched out his hand and left it hanging there until she’d reached back to clasp his for a long moment. “It is always special times. Yusuf is my love, but you are my dearest friend.”

Nile diplomatically looked at the low flames in the fire until Andy had blinked the sheen from her eyes and the quiver the corner of her mouth was under control. “ _Anyway_ ,” Andy said firmly. “The occasion never seemed to come up after Booker joined us.”

Nile sat up, not wanting to risk spoiling the easy atmosphere, but also desperately curious. She’d known Booker for such a short time, but his absence loomed over the group as much as his presence would have. She had so many questions about the immortal closest to her in age, but it was such an awkward subject. What with the betrayal and all.

“Well, _Booker_ ,” snorted Joe.

“Oh hush, he was just…a product of his time,” said Nicky. “He was growing out of it!”

“What do you mean?” asked Nile.

Andy sighed, but she just sounded tired, not angry. “The thing you need to understand about Book - Sebastian Le Livre, he was then – is that he was a bit of a bastard.”

“ _Our_ bastard, though,” said Nicky.

“Not at first,” said Joe. He was looking less amused. “Sebastian told you he died fighting Napoleon? He was actually killed by his own army, for desertion. Hung. And he was only in the army in the first place because he was a forger, and he’d been caught.”

Nile listened intently, trying desperately to clear the haze of alcohol from her brain. These three were a curious combination of open about their personal pasts, and clamming up over things, or just making tantalisingly oblique references and in-jokes that Nile simply didn’t have the context – yet – to understand. A story like this was like gold.

Andy sighed. “He was a _good_ forger. It was only a fluke that he’d been caught. And we certainly made use of his skills later. But…he _was_ a criminal. He made his money ripping people off or selling faked documents.”

“Didn’t he have a family?” asked Nile.

“Oh, sure,” said Joe. “Fine, upstanding family man.”

Nicky exhaled heavily. “He _did_ love his family. That’s what…”

“That’s what broke him,” said Andy. “But, the thing you have to understand about men like him, is that he didn’t see himself as a criminal. He had a skill, and he used it well, and in order to balance that in himself, he was more determined than ever to be…how did you put it, Joe? An upstanding family man. Very correct.”

“So…” said Nile. “So he was…traditional?”

“Very diplomatic, Nile,” replied Andy. “When we found him, only a few years after he died for the first time, he was back with his family, living very properly. Only forging a _little_ bit. We explained everything, but he was determined to stay with his wife and sons as long as he could. I don’t think he really understood what it would be like, and none of us had had family to…deal with, so we didn’t understand either.”

“We all made the mistake,” said Nicky softly.

“He had a…what’s that lovely saying you have now?...a stick up his arse,” said Yusuf. “Everything about his life had to be correct. Perfect house, perfect clothes, perfect wife, perfect children.”

“It’s not that he was a bad person,” said Andy. “He relaxed a lot later. He was just…dealing with a lot, and it was important to him that, when it came to his personal life he was-“

“A righteous prick,” grumbled Joe.

Nicky huffed a soft laugh. “Do you remember, before he travelled with us, when he found out I used to be a priest? And he was trying to ask me if it was appropriate to be associating with ‘an infidel’?”

“Oh, oh, oh, and then when he saw me admiring your _very_ fine derriere, and tried to warn you that he thought I might have _ill intentions_?”

“Hmm, I’m glad you did,” hummed Nicky, pulling Joe down into a kiss.

“ _Anyway_ ,” said Andy, loudly, as the kiss acquired some groping. “The point is, while Booker could be an arsehole, he was _our_ arsehole. Sebastian Le Livre, on the other hand, could be a sanctimonious bastard. And even after he loosened up a bit, fighting with us, the mood just never quite seemed like it had. So-“ she shrugged. “I’m sure he’ll get there eventually. He’s still young, after all.”

Joe had pulled away from Nicky, although they remained entwined where they lay on the rug. “Do you remember, when he was still trying to make a go of it with his family and going back to them whenever we were in France, how would get all huffy whenever you came back from a tryst and start talking loudly about the sanctity of marriage and how much he loved his beautiful wife?”

Andy groaned. “That decade was the _worst_.”

“What changed?” asked Nile.

“His wife got a grey hair,” said Joe.

“What, really?”

Andy nodded. “She was about, oh, ten years younger than him. Beautiful girl, lovely woman. But she aged, of course. Once he went back to visit her and noticed the grey hair and laugh lines by her eyes, and came back to us all sorrowful and reading poetry about the passing of time, fading blooms and how fleeting the beauty of youth, shit like that.” She leaned sideways to pick up a new bottle of beer. “Then, that week, _he_ went out and picked up a girl for the night.”

“He _was_ grieving _,_ ” said Nicky, in mild defence.

“Oh, sure. In retrospect, I’ll give him that. His feelings were genuine, however shittily he was expressing them. But his wife was all of, what, thirty five, and he’d decided that she was past it. Bastard.”

“Did you confront him about it?” asked Nile.

“I did better,” said Andy. She had a glint in her eye.

Joe looked up, sharply. “Why, what did you do?”

“I went and fucked Booker’s wife.”

“No!” Joe gasped in delighted outrage.

Andy grinned, raised an eyebrow and took a pull from her beer bottle. “I did. She knew about his… new life expectancy, and she was a smart woman. She loved him but she’d seen the writing on the wall. She really _was_ lovely, though. I gave her the night of her _life_ – better than anything Sebastian’d managed, anyway, and next time he came back she sent him off again. Let him come back to visit their sons, but told him they couldn’t act as husband and wife any more.”

Nicky was laughing softly. “Oh. _That’s_ why he was so…irked when he came back that last time and stayed with us. Andy, you dog.”

“Couldn’t have happened to a better man,” said Joe with satisfaction.

“Oh, come on, guys. He might have deserved it then, but you’ll have to forgive him sooner or later. Booker…he’s one of us. Is in the game with us. He’s paying for what he did.”

Joe rolled over onto his back and glared at the ceiling. “You’re right. I know you’re right. But I don’t like it.” The glare softened as Nicky planted a gentle kiss to his cheek and murmured in his ear. The murmuring turned to kissing, turned to….

Nile had seen this show before. “So, you’re…you like men and women?” she asked Andy. She thought she’d picked up hints before, something about the way Andy looked when she spoke of Quyhn, but it hadn’t come up in conversation, and her Mama had taught her to be polite.

“Pfft. Labels are so twentieth-cent-“

“Twenty- _first_ ,” said Nicky between kisses, not even looking away from Joe.

“Twenty _-first_ century, fine, fuck you,” said Andy with a grin.

“Yes, that’s _was_ how this conversation started.”

“Hmm.”

There was a pensive beat, slightly at odds with the convivial atmosphere the room had a moment before. The two men pulled apart from each other a little and looked at Andy with oddly identical gazes, then turned back to each other. There was a moment of wordless communication between them before they rolled slightly away from each other, Joe matter-of-factly adjusting the front of his jeans slightly.

“Come here.”

“What? No, you don’t have to, guys. I’m good. Really.” Andy put down her bottle and pushed herself to her feet, but wobbled when Nicky grabbed her ankle, and let herself be pulled down when Joe reached up to grab her wrist and tug gently.

“Not for that, Andromache. Just…come here.” Joe pulled her down into the space between him and Nicky, pushing and rearranging her to his satisfaction so Nicky’s arm was under her neck, her head pillowed on the front of his shoulder, Joe spooning behind her to hold her arm across Nicky’s stomach.

Andy let out a quiet, shaking breath and visibly relaxed, curling into Nicky’s side and pulling Joe closer. “Fine,” she muttered into Nicky’s shirt. “Just for a little while. Just…just a little while.”

Joe made a contented sound and planted a soft, entirely platonic kiss on Andy’s temple. Nile sat frozen, not quite sure how to react to this. She felt she was witnessing a private moment – even more so than when she’d glimpsed Joe and Nicky making out or whispering sweet nothings to one another – and wasn’t sure which would be worse, sitting still and hoping they forgot she was there or leaving and risk ruining the moment. She’d just decided to make a move when Nicky looked over and caught her eye. One side of his mouth quirked up. He nodded his head towards their group and gestured with his free hand. “Vieni qui,” he said softly.

“Oh, I should-“ Nile said awkwardly.

“Come here,” he repeated. “Really, it’s okay.” Without even making a decision Nile found herself leaning forward a little. It was just…she missed the easy camaraderie of her unit. She missed her brother’s rough hugs and her mother wrapping her arms around her. It seemed like forever since she’d felt a touch that wasn’t a punch, or sparring, or just a friendly handshake or shoulder-bump.

“C’mon,” Joe said. “Nicky gives the best hugs. Honest.”

Nile was already crawling over when she heard Andy mutter, still into Nicky’s shirt, “He does, it’s infuriating.” Andy didn’t look up, but she did reach out her arm to pull Nile in against Nicky’s other side, so Nile was lying with her head on his other shoulder, mirror image to Andy. Joe reached over and patted her hand, then leaned over a little more to pull Nile’s plait out from where it was caught under her arm and arrange it so she was comfortable. The movement pressed Andy tighter between Joe and Nicky, but Nile didn’t think the small sound Andy made was a complaint.

“Just for a little while, right?” Nile said. Nicky’s arm tightened around her shoulder.

“Yeah, sure,” Joe said, lying back down against Andy’s back. Nile’s eyes were drifting shut. “Just a little while.”


End file.
